Words

Words of affirmation make a world of difference at the end of the day.  I don't know about your house, but it seems that, on these long winter evenings, behavior and attitudes degenerate as the evening goes on.  By bedtime it's easy to focus on the rude thing this one said to that one, or the way this one rolled his eyes when I asked him to...

The other day, Groupon had a 50% off coupon for the i like book.  I checked it out and was intrigued.  I ordered one for each boy, and the books shipped quickly.  The book is put together as a quasi-scrapbook, with spaces for your pictures of your child, pages for your child to draw on, and pages for your child to share his/her thoughts/likes.  But mainly, the book leaves space for two people (mom and dad or whoever) to write something they like about the child each day of the year.  The way it's organized, you can start on any day of any month.  If you don't want to spend the money for the bound book, you could easily grab any notebook and go for it.  Just take a minute or two each day to write one thing you like about your child. 

We've added this to our nighttime routine, and the loving words have sparked many smiles at bed time.  Today, I wrote for Isaiah, "I like it when you make my bed for me when I'm in the shower."  For Sam, I wrote, "I like how you blow up a balloon like no other four year old."  It's kind of fun to write something specific about the day, rather than something general, like, "I like your hugs." Although there's nothing wrong with that.  :) 

There's also an i like book for couples, in case you want to spice things up with your honey.  :)